Being a new member and never having posted I’ll take a stab at this, but please bare (bear?) with me. First off, I’m Rob from Florida USA.
Back in the late 50‘s early 60’s my grandfather used to take me to a relatively new racetrack in the NW hills of Connecticut called Lime Rock Park. It was there that my grandfather, his friend Mr Conrad Ham, and I used to sit in the infield above the esses and watch the racing. We would sit in our lawn chairs or on our blankets eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, drinking Coca-Colas while watching the cars race around the track. There would be Alfa Romeo Giulietta’s, Triumph TR2’s and TR3’s, MGA’s, Volvo PV 444-544‘s and most certainly Morgan 4/4 and Plus 4’s amongst other cars on the track at any one time. The absolutely wonderful and intoxicating smell of Castrol castor oil would thicken the air in short order and all was very, very good with the world in the eyes of a then 8-12 year old boy. Although all of these cars on the track held a special place in my heart, (and in fact my very first car turned out to be a later date used Triumph TR-250), the Morgans were always at the top of the “Some Day” list of ownership. That thought never changed.
Fast forward to May of 2016, at the age of 63 and I am in the hospital having suffered my 2nd heart attack. Although relatively slight of build, (especially for the typical American these days), at 5’ 7” tall, and 130 lb (60 Kg), my previous fondness for Camel non-filter smokes and buying Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise by the gallon apparently caught up with me. Never would have thunk it, .......oh well. It shouldn’t take two heart attacks to realize that life can get VERY short in the blink of an eye, but that is what happened to me. Amongst many other things I realized that if I was to ever buy a Morgan then now would probably be a very good time to do so.
Back in the 80’s I had spent some time with a car club doing what would now be called HPDE at Lime Rock Park and I enjoyed it immensely. Sometimes life can get in the way of living and it wasn’t until January of 2016 that I was able to get back on the track again for a number of runs, this time with Skip Barber Racing at my now home track of Sebring FL. I wanted more, and I wanted a Morgan to do it with/in.
In searching this summer I ultimately found a 1961 Morgan Plus 4 street legal race car that I ended up imported into the US. There is still a lot of work to do on the car but I feel that eventually it will become a very decent car. It’s bones are good but it just needs some serious attention that had been lacking. Despite the work still needed it brings a huge smile to my face every time I walk into the garage and recall sitting on the banks above the esses with my grandfather and Mr Ham in the early 60’s and watching Morgans race around Lime Rock Park in the NW hills of Connecticut.
Someday soon I hope to do some laps at Sebring with my Morgan but more importantly to get back up to Lime Rock Park in the NW hills of Connecticut for some laps where it all began for me over 50 years ago. I only wish that at least for a moment I could bring back Mr Ham and my grandfather, as well as the incredible smell of Castrol castor oil as well! Having been a genuine ‘car guy’ I think my grandfather would approve.
In the meantime, I am very happy to have found the TalkMorgan website where there is a wealth of information that will help me gain knowledge about my new-to-me Morgan. Early on my parents instilled in me the feeling that “If you want to dance to the music be prepared but also be happy to ‘pay for the fiddler’. In that regard I was more than happy early on to make a contribution to Simon for his website, and will be more than happy to do so again in the future. This is an absolutely wonderful resource that I am more than happy to support. Thank you Simon!
Oh, and to perhaps get back to the original question about lack of posting by new members since that is what this thread is all about,.....some of us are just quiet people by nature and at least at this point in time perhaps don’t feel they have the knowledge to contribute in any meaningful way.
Sorry for my long and drawn out introductory diatribe here!
Sincerely,
Rob
